March Madness: Mount St. Mary’s Beats American 83-72 in the first four to win the date with No. 1 Duke

Dayton, Ohio (AP)-Duela Adebayo and Jedy Cordilla scored 22 points when Mount St. Mary’s defeated the American University 83-72 in a confrontation of the NCAA Tournament of Seeds No. 16 in the first four on Wednesday night.

The mountaineers (23-12) obtained a date with the sown No. 1 Duke on Friday in a game in the east region in North Carolina.

“Today, when we walked for the national anthem, it was a moment of sacred cow for me,” said Mountaineers coach Donny Lind. “Now to move forward with this group and let them continue playing and go to Raleight and play Duke is incredible. We have to prepare and give them everything we have.”

Geoff Sprouse led the Americans (22-13) with 18 points in six triples from the bank. Elijah Stephens scored 12.

“This is going to hurt for a while, but I’m going to turn the page,” said Eagles coach Duane Simpkins. “We have six very good first -year students, and we will start developing a game plan on how to improve. We will return.”

American main scorer Matt Rogers injured his right knee Four minutes in the game.

Rogers tried to play pain, but with 5:28 remaining in the first half he fell to the court, he was helped and did not return. Rogers, who averaged 17 points per game, ended with seven points in eight minutes. He observed the second half from the bank on crutches.

“Yes, I feel terrible for him,” said Lind. “His versatility really stood out and his will. He plays very, very hard. He is excited in an excellent way for his team.”

Both teams fired better than 60% and were a combined 8 of 19 from a range of 3 points to the first 10 minutes. Dallas Hobbs beat the bell with a 3 to put Mount St. Mary’s ahead 48-38 in the half time.

Hobbs ended with 17 points.

“I was nervous,” said Hobbs. “It is safe to say that this was the biggest game I have played in my life.”

Mount St. Mary’s lacked the main 3 -point shooters Carmelo Pacheco, who has not played since he broke a finger at the end of the regular season.

But the mountaineers stayed hot from long reach in the second half. The Triple of Malcolm Dread put them ahead 64-51 with 11:26 remaining.

“Obviously, the offensive was clicking quite well for us,” Lind said. “But credit to the Americans. They fought all the time, obviously with the loss (Rogers), but did not show a pad.”

Mount St. Mary’s improved 3-6 in the NCAA tournament. Next, the ACC Blue Devils champion.

“It means a lot to the university,” said Hobbs. “As for playing Duke below, our mentality is the same, just entering and following the game plan, follows what the coach says and, hopefully, leave and get a victory.”

Family enemies

It was the 71st meeting between the schools in the Washington area. American won the four previous clashes and leads the 37-34 series.

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